Commemorative goblet
Rupert Favell
Category
Glass
Date
1880
Materials
Glass, Silver-Gilt
Measurements
293 mm (Height); 111 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Greys Court, Oxfordshire
NT 195644
Summary
Silver-gilt mounted glass goblet. Silver-gilt filigree around top and base. The base inscribed "Memento, From the Table at Irvings Supper given on the Stage of the Lyceum, Feb 14th 1880". Marked for Rupert Favell, London, 1879-1880.
Full description
Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905) was one of the leading actors in Britain during the Victorian period and the first person in his profession to receive a knighthood. He was the grandfather of Lady Elizabeth Brunner who purchased Greys Court with her husband Sir Felix Brunner in the 1930s. One role for which Irving gained particular fame was as the character Shylock in a production of William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. The play opened at London's Lyceum Theatre on 1 November, 1879, and ran for 250 performances. On the occasion of the 100th performance on 14 February 1880, Irving arranged for a dinner to take place on the theatre's stage where he invited many guests to come and toast its success. Guests included the writers Bram Stoker (1847-1912) and Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).Stoker recalled how the guests dined on clear turtle soup, cold salmon and cucumbers, lamb cutlets and mushrooms. To accompany the meal, the diners drank magnums of 1874 vintage Heidsieck champagne. One of the magnums was converted after the dinner into this goblet by the London-based silversmith Rupert Favell to help mark the occasion. See Sotheby's, New York, May 21 2020 [Lot 17] for an identical goblet being sold accompanied by a matching claret jug also made from a converted champagne magnum. It is possible this goblet once formed a set with them.
Provenance
W. H. Berry (probably the actor William Henry Berry 1870-1951); Sir Felix and Lady Elizabeth Brunner, Greys Court, Oxfordshire; Assigned to the National Trust from the Estate of Lady Elizabeth Brunner, 2022.
Makers and roles
Rupert Favell, silversmith